Game-changing operations services.

Our name is our mission: Optimize.

We help Democratic campaigns, PACs, and other progressive organizations win by maximizing their money, time, and talent through a comprehensive suite of people, financial, and operations services.

Some of the groups that have trusted Optimize with their operations:

Why We’re Here

We are here to win. We believe that operational efficiency is a key component to winning elections and passing meaningful legislation.

Optimize provides a comprehensive suite of services to achieve operational efficiency by allowing our clients to maximize their most valuable resources: their money, time, and talent.

We are not your typical HR or bookkeeping firm. We are political operatives who know what it takes to win. We move quickly. We cut red tape. We do the behind-the-scenes work that can make the difference.

Schedule a meeting with us!

What We Do

Schedule a meeting with us and we will come up with a suite of services that meets your specific needs.

Here are just some of the services we provide:

Hire the right people in the right roles quickly by:

  • Writing and posting job descriptions

  • Setting up and managing your applicant tracking system

  • Conducting screening calls and reference checks

  • Onboarding new employees

Give your employees a strong foundation by:

  • Setting up and running your payroll

  • Establishing and managing employee benefits

Allow your employees to do their best work by:

  • Providing an employee help desk with fast response time and excellent service

  • Creating a thorough and easy-to-read employee handbook

  • Assisting with performance management

  • Advising on employment policies and personnel issues

Protect your organization from risk by:

  • Conducting investigations into allegations of misconduct

  • Advising you on federal, state, and local employment laws and regulations

  • Helping you acquire liability and other insurance policies

Maximize your money by:

  • Creating a custom budget template for your needs

  • Keep your budget updated with actuals

  • Track your cash on hand and project cash flow into the future

  • Provide strategic budget advice

And a lot more to help you win by creating a high-performing organization.

We Don’t Do One-Size-Fits-All

Our services are not just made for politics, they’re made for you. And while we can promise you excellent results today, we can promise you even better results tomorrow. Our approach is dynamic, flexible, and iterative. We continuously tweak and refine our solutions based on real-time feedback and the your evolving needs. This means that while we start with a solid, proven foundation, we adapt and improve as we go. We swiftly address any sticking points and double down on what’s working, keeping your operations agile and responsive.

Who We Are

Our leadership team has extensive experience in politics, non-profits, and the private sector, optimizing organizations to do more.

Joey Pacific | Co-Founder and Managing Partner

Joey is a leading political operations professional with over a decade of experience at all levels of operations for campaigns, state party committees, PACs, and non-profit organizations. Joey was a Senior Advisor at Harris for President and was the Chief Operating Officer on Pete Buttigieg’s 2020 campaign for president. He has experience managing multi-million dollar budgets and has led and advised on operations for organizations with teams of thousands of people.

Pete Kavanaugh | Co-Founder and Partner

Pete has worked at the highest levels of Democratic politics, having served as Deputy Campaign Manager for Joe Biden’s 2020 campaign. Pete has also served in a variety of leadership roles on the state and national levels, including senior positions on four Democratic presidential campaigns, has advised dozens of leading issue advocacy groups, companies, and coalitions, and has started multiple successful businesses.

Samantha Kawabata | CEO

Samantha brings over fifteen years of experience working in operations for non-profits, political organizations, and private-sector businesses. She was the Chief Operating Officer for a design and development firm, the National Director of Operations for Pete for America in 2020, and has worked in various roles at other organizations. She started working at Optimize in 2023.

Our Other Project

The work we do at Optimize is a core part of our mission to improve the Democratic ecosystem. We recently announced another part of that mission - a software platform called Operative that reimagines how campaigns and PACs manage and report their financial information. Find out more here.